Carrington Connects

The holidays are here, and regardless of how organized you might be just about everyone is going to be pressed for time over the next few weeks.

This creates a challenge for many real estate agents who will attempt to walk the tightrope between making themselves available and still giving clients enough space to spend time with their families.

Fortunately, the holidays happen every year, so there are already some battle-tested strategies that are sure to help you connect with your clients in a way that keeps you in contact with them without interfering with family traditions.

Here are seven ways to connect with your clients over the holidays:

Send a Holiday Greeting Card

This one is a no-brainer. One of the easiest ways to connect with current and past clients this time of year is to maintain an updated mailing list of everyone you are currently working with and have worked with in the past.

Because just about everyone is sending holiday cards around this time, this is a great way to keep your name in the minds of your clients. If you want to really stand out, you can get bonus points for including pictures or hand-written cards!

Tell Them You Are Available

Some people take off more time than others around the holidays, which can lead to confusion over who is available for business during those weeks and who is not.

Contacting your clients with a brief voicemail or email to let them know you are available to help with anything they need during the holidays is a great way to show your commitment to them.

Explain What They Should Expect

Because so many people take time off during the holidays, the schedule of many sellers and potential buyers is going to be different from any other time of year.

Giving your clients a call to let them know what to expect from the local real estate market during the holiday season is a great way to connect with them while demonstrating your knowledge of the market.

Host a Holiday Party

One obvious way to connect with clients during the holiday season is to host a holiday party at your home or office.

This doesn’t have to be anything overly formal, but it can give you a chance to have some great one-on-one discussions with clients that you might normally lose touch with during this time of year, so break out the eggnog!

Make a Donation in the Client's Name

Making a donation to a local charity in the name of one or more of your clients is a great way to connect with them while staying true to the spirit of the season.

This doesn’t have to be anything over the top either, you could simply buy a small toy for your local Toys for Tots drive in the name of each client you’d like to connect with and send them a card or picture of the toy to let them know.

Send Clients Calendars or Planners

The holidays are the perfect time to start thinking about the business you intend to do with clients over the course of the new year. Custom printed calendars are one of the most popular marketing tools for many real estate agents, and this is a great time to be passing out calendars for next year.

Whether you decide to get your own calendars printed or simply send clients nice planners from your local office supply store, there are bonus points to be had for taking the time to go through each calendar and mark certain dates like birthdays and anniversaries (if you know them) that will be important for the client to remember.

New Year’s Resolutions Cards

One more fun way to connect with clients is to send them a different type of holiday card.

While most everyone they know will be sending them a card in early December, they probably aren’t going to be getting very many New Year’s Eve cards, which will obviously make yours stand out.

You can score some bonus points here for including the New Year’s resolutions that you and anyone else in your office are making this year.

In Closing

Connecting with past, current, and potential future clients during the holidays is a great way to make sure that you have plenty of work lined up for the coming year.

Showing up at their homes uninvited on Christmas morning probably isn’t going to impress any of your clients, but this list should give you a great starting point for how you can connect with them during the holiday season without intruding on their family and personal time.

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